Conservative
Government Openly Refuses To Make Public Its Ministries' Accessibility
Plans On This, Its Self-Imposed September 30, 2003 Deadline - ODA Committee
Issues News Release Highlighting Government's Disregard Of Its Own Legislation
September 30, 2003

SUMMARY

Below is a news
release which the ODA Committee has just issued, on the Conservative
Government's refusal today to make public its provincial ministries'
accessibility plans. The Government had said that the Ontarians with
Disabilities Act 2001 requires these plans to be made public today.

Please circulate
this news release widely. Send it to your local media as fast as possible.
Encourage them to cover this late-breaking story.

*****

ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT COMMITTEE

NEWS RELEASE - FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SLAP IN THE FACE
OF ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ON ELECTION'S EVE - CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT
REFUSES TO MAKE PUBLIC DISABILITY ACCESSIBILITY PLANS WHICH ITS DISABILITY
LAW REQUIRES THEM TO MAKE PUBLIC TODAY

September 30, 2003:
On the very eve of this election, the Conservative Government has today
refused to make public the plans which the Ontarians with Disabilities
Act 2001 requires each Ontario Government ministry to have in place
and to make public by today. One year ago today, the Conservatives proclaimed
in force provisions of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act (ODA) which
required these plans to be developed, and to be made public within one
year. For months, the Government has announced that September 30, 2003
was the deadline for these to be made public.

The province-wide,
non-partisan ODA Committee, organized in 23 regions across Ontario,
which led the charge for a strong, effective ODA, wrote to Citizenship
Minister DeFaria asking that he provide these plans by 5:00 p.m. today.
(See letter attached.) He did not do so.

An email from his
deputy minister to various public sector organizations, e.g municipalities,
school boards, and public transit providers (which one recipient forwarded
to the ODA Committee) evidently stated: "Under the ODA, government
ministries, school boards, colleges, universities, hospitals, municipalities
and public transportation organizations are required to prepare accessibility
plans and make the plans public each year. We had hoped that plans would
be available to the public by September 30, 2003. However, as you know,
a provincial election will be held on October 2, 2003. As a result,
the release of ministry accessibility plans has been postponed."

A letter from the
Citizenship Ministry's Deputy Minister, set out below, confirms that
the Conservative Government is not going to make these accessibility
plans public before voters, including voters with disabilities, go to
the polls on Thursday.

"This slap
in the face of Ontarians with disabilities is simply unbelievable,"
said David Lepofsky, ODA Committee chair. "The Conservatives promised
for years that the Ontario Government would lead by example on the road
to a barrier-free Ontario for 1.9 million Ontarians with disabilities.
Here they are openly disregarding their own self-imposed deadline, just
before a provincial election where voters with disabilities have been
actively raising disability issues. Does the government believe that
just because it called an election, it doesn't have to obey its own
law?"

The Conservatives
promised to pass a strong, effective Ontarians with Disabilities Act.
The law they passed in 2001 was weak and unenforceable. Its only provision
to provide any semblance of enforcement, section 21, would make it an
offence for a public sector body like an Ontario Government ministry
to fail to make its accessibility plan public on the deadline. But the
Conservatives refused to proclaim in force that one enforcement provision.

"We've been
trying to get the Conservatives to commit to strengthen this toothless
law in this election but they've refused," said Lepofsky. "If
we need proof that this law needs strengthening, the Conservatives are
themselves the shocking example."

The Liberals and
NDP have each promised to strengthen the ODA within one year of this
election. To see their detailed commitments, visit:

As you know, the
Ontarians with Disabilities Act 2001 requires every Ministry of the
Ontario Government to make public today its first annual accessibility
plan. Your Government proclaimed in force the relevant provisions of
that legislation one year ago today, stating that September 30, 2003
would be the effective deadline for the first annual plans to be made
public.

Could I ask you
to provide me with a copy of the accessibility plan for your Ministry,
and for each other Ministry in the Ontario Government by 5:00 p.m. today.
To ensure that this can be done in a fast and economical way, could
I ask that these each be emailed to me at the following email
address:

lepofsky@eol.ca

If your Ministry
does not now have a copy of the accessibility plans prepared by each
Ontario Government ministry, could I ask that you immediately forward
this request to all the other Ontario Government ministries, and that
you ensure that they comply with this request. I am copying this letter
to Premier Eves, so that if needed, the Premier's Office can facilitate
this.

I thank you in advance
for your cooperation. We look forward to being able as quickly as possible
to review the accessibility plans that the Ontario Government has developed
under this legislation. Ontarians with disabilities have waited a long
time to have the opportunity to see them.

I am responding
to your letter to the Honourable Carl DeFaria dated earlier today in
which you requested a copy of each Ontario government ministry accessibility
plan. The Ministry will be unable to fulfil your request.
We had hoped the ministry plans would be available to the public by
September 30, 2003. However, it is a well-established tradition that
an election period is a caretaker period for government. Accordingly,
government publications are curtailed until after the election. As a
result, the release of ministry accessibility plans has been postponed.

The government remains
committed to working in partnership with all sectors, including the
private sector, to improve accessibility and opportunities for people
with disabilities. We encourage all public sector organizations to make
their plans available to the public, and applaud all sectors for their
commitment to greater accessibility.